I just got back from Mexico with my wife and we really struggled to maintain our vegan lifestyle. Can anyone recommend some vegan-friendly vacation destinations (anywhere in the world) so that we don't go through something like that again?

What were the problems you had in Mexico? Where did you struggle the most?

We stayed in Cancun at an all-inclusive resort. There's only so much rice and beans we can have in a week. Even the restaurants we visited outside of our resort were very meat, cheese, and seafood centric.

Well, if you want to lie on a beach for your vacation, southeast Florida (Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, Boca Raton, West Palm Beach, etc) is veg-friendly. Orlando in central Florida is, too, if you want to hit the theme park scene there, though I don't know what there is to eat inside the theme parks (which don't allow outside food). I haven't been to the theme parks since going veg, though I'm in the Orlando area a few times per year for other things.

All the northeastern big cities are pretty vegan friendly (not sure about Philly..never been there). DC is fantastic, and a nice vacation spot. Actually, I suspect most big cities are decent. In the past few years, I've been in geez, 30 large cities in the States and have never struggled. Even in Oklahoma, I could manage as a then mostly-vegan. Traverse City (MI) is actually quite nice as well. It might not be a spot for a "big" vacation, but it's a nice beach getaway.

On this side of the sea, I've had good luck most everywhere in England, in Brussels, and in Barcelona (which gets a bad rap veg-wise, but it was fab for me). Paris was challenging, though that was in part a language barrier. Norway was not naturally vegan-friendly, but with some hunting, IS and I have eaten well, and even had a fancy-schmancy meal at a restaurant on our last visit.

The ones I pity are the ones who never stick out their neck for something they believe, never know the taste of moral struggle, and never have the thrill of victory. - Jonathan Kozol

I would recommend the Big Island of Hawaii. It's full of veg*n hippies . I lived there for 4 months (in Hilo) and it was very easy to be vegan. The 2 biggest health food stores, Island Naturals and Tree of Life, had every vegan food I could need. Not to mention the huge outdoor fruit and vegetable market that sold every kind of vegetable and tropical fruit possible! I went there all the time to stock up on fresh organic produce. And the island's famous pizza chain (I forget what it's called, but they're found all over the island) has vegan pizzas!

We stayed in Cancun at an all-inclusive resort. There's only so much rice and beans we can have in a week. Even the restaurants we visited outside of our resort were very meat, cheese, and seafood centric.

If I may make a suggestion, the problem was perhaps booking an all-inclusive vacation instead of opting for independent travel. You put yourself at the mercy of a resort instead of opting to find your own meals.

Another idea would be to book a self-catering accomodations with a small kitchen. You could then enjoy rubbing elbows with the locals buying food at street markets and researching how to cook local cuisine with local ingredients. This is what I do when traveling to places without a lot of restaurants. Some of these self catering places have pools and all of the trappings of a resort but with the addition of your own kitchen and cooking facilities.

I've found the thing with any vegegtarian vacation is to do lots of research beforehand therefore you won't be dissapointed or miss out on some hidden gems in favour of the tourist trail.

The moral of the story is that anyplace in the world is veggie friendly if enough research is included in vacation planning. Being a veggie shouldn't keep you from travelling anywhere in the world you want to.

I would recommend the Big Island of Hawaii. It's full of veg*n hippies . I lived there for 4 months (in Hilo) and it was very easy to be vegan. The 2 biggest health food stores, Island Naturals and Tree of Life, had every vegan food I could need. Not to mention the huge outdoor fruit and vegetable market that sold every kind of vegetable and tropical fruit possible! I went there all the time to stock up on fresh organic produce. And the island's famous pizza chain (I forget what it's called, but they're found all over the island) has vegan pizzas!

If I may make a suggestion, the problem was perhaps booking an all-inclusive vacation instead of opting for independent travel. You put yourself at the mercy of a resort instead of opting to find your own meals.

Another idea would be to book a self-catering accomodations with a small kitchen. You could then enjoy rubbing elbows with the locals buying food at street markets and researching how to cook local cuisine with local ingredients. This is what I do when traveling to places without a lot of restaurants. Some of these self catering places have pools and all of the trappings of a resort but with the addition of your own kitchen and cooking facilities.

I've found the thing with any vegegtarian vacation is to do lots of research beforehand therefore you won't be dissapointed or miss out on some hidden gems in favour of the tourist trail.

The moral of the story is that anyplace in the world is veggie friendly if enough research is included in vacation planning. Being a veggie shouldn't keep you from travelling anywhere in the world you want to.

Trust me....I did loads of research beforehand. Even places you think would be very veg*n friendly (i.e., Chinese restaurant) were unbelievably meat centric.

The resort we stayed in had an Italian restaurant, Chinese, Japanese, Thai, as well as Mexican cuisine. One would think that with those options we would be fine but guess again.

And again, we not only ate at our resort but we tried a few other restaurants in the area. It was definitely a struggle.

And one more thing....the one veg*n place we wanted to eat at was within walking distance of our resort. We walked over there one night to find out that they closed that location. The next closest one was a $20 (US) cab ride each way. We didn't think it was worth $40 in transit fees to eat what appeared to be very casual cuisine.

Trust me....I did loads of research beforehand. Even places you think would be very veg*n friendly (i.e., Chinese restaurant) were unbelievably meat centric.

The resort we stayed in had an Italian restaurant, Chinese, Japanese, Thai, as well as Mexican cuisine. One would think that with those options we would be fine but guess again.

And again, we not only ate at our resort but we tried a few other restaurants in the area. It was definitely a struggle.

Wow that certainly does sound like a struggle, especially when so many inclusive restaurants were advertised as in residence in the resort. That's a lesson for all of us planning holidays: what one person says is a Thai restaurant may not be what you expect as a Thai restaurant.

But I have seen many times in the past where one veggie will say a certain location was 'great' for veggies while another veggie would say the exact same area was not great for veggies. It really is interessting.

I second MrFalafels advice to book self-catering accommodation and to shop groceries at the local markets (and grocery stores). That way you can still research and go to veg*n-friendly restaurants in the area if you like, but you dont depend on them as much. Works very well in many European countries too. Though I admit Hawaii also sounds intriguing.

No need to leave it up to someone else (or an all-inclusive resort), to decide what/where you should get to eat.

I'll second Tofu-n-sprouts recommendation of OR/WA/BC. I went there in 2006, we hired a campervan and drove round for a couple of weeks, cooking our own food so I can't comment on restaurants etc. but we found all sorts of good stuff in the supermarkets.

Slightly closer to (my) home, you shouldn't have too much trouble in most parts of western Europe, though certainly in France it's a real help if you have your own cooking facilities. In the UK there are an increasing number of all-veg hotels and guesthouses, I've stayed in a particularly nice one called 'Lancrigg' at Grasmere in the Lake District.

I should add that I don't know whether the other islands of Hawaii are veg friendly, I only know the Big Island. Everywhere I went on the island (but especially in the east) there were vegan options, with the exception of Bubba Gump Shrimp and Cafe 100 restaurants.

Do you speak languages other than English? My boyfriend and I had a fabulous vacation in Bulgaria last year, but that's where I'm from so we were able to get all yummy vegan foods both from my family and restaurants (the cuisine is similar to Greek). Trust me, there are many vegan options even in meat-centered cuisines, just normally they would not be listed in the fancy restaurant dishes. A couple of years ago (when we were only vegetarian) we also had a great time with a vacation in Japan, but we were with two friends fluent in Japanese. I think traveling to an area where you can communicate is key.

Another idea would be to book a self-catering accomodations with a small kitchen. You could then enjoy rubbing elbows with the locals buying food at street markets and researching how to cook local cuisine with local ingredients. This is what I do when traveling to places without a lot of restaurants. Some of these self catering places have pools and all of the trappings of a resort but with the addition of your own kitchen and cooking facilities.

A friend just returned from a trip to Bar Harbor, Maine, and said that it was vegan-friendly, especially if you are doing your own cooking. She mentioned a restaurant called Two Cats that supposedly was veg-friendly.

Do you speak languages other than English? My boyfriend and I had a fabulous vacation in Bulgaria last year, but that's where I'm from so we were able to get all yummy vegan foods both from my family and restaurants (the cuisine is similar to Greek). Trust me, there are many vegan options even in meat-centered cuisines, just normally they would not be listed in the fancy restaurant dishes. A couple of years ago (when we were only vegetarian) we also had a great time with a vacation in Japan, but we were with two friends fluent in Japanese. I think traveling to an area where you can communicate is key.

Thats nice to hear about Bulgaria (I've always wanted to go) and my mother and I are looking at it for an option for next summer (we're doing a big vacation when she gets back from deployment).